Council Housing - Staying after tenant dies

GeorgianaCavendish

A bit of a complex situation with council housing in my family and wondering where to start looking for advice. It is complicated by the family dynamics (one partner is financially abusive) so the obvious solutions of checking the tenancy agreement would be very difficult. 

The main tenant (my uncle) has been living in his 3 bed council house since the 1960s. Initially the tenancy was in my grandma's name, and her kids (inc my uncle) lived with her. The other kids moved out and my uncle was added as a joint tenant in late 1980s / early 1990s. My grandma moved out in the mid 1990s after their family relationship broke down and the tenancy was put in my uncle's sole name. I'm not sure whether this was a succession of the agreement as they had been joint tenants before, and she was removed from the tenancy when moved into other accommodation rather than the tenancy passing on. 

My aunt has been living in the house since they got married in 1980 and their son has lived there for his whole life (born 1990). I won't go into the whole background but my uncle is extremely secretive about his money (for example, he didn't tell my aunt that it was a council house until my cousin was born, he takes care of the rent but my aunt - and now cousin - pay for everything else)  and in the past has made threats to my aunt about her having no rights to the house and being homeless if he decided to throw her out and "having nothing" if he dies. My cousin only found out about all this a couple of months ago as my uncle was admitted to hospital and my aunt broke down and told him the whole situation. He's really worried that he and his mum would be homeless if something were to happen to his dad. 

I've been trying to do some research to help them but I've been stressed out because the information I've found doesn't look good (i.e. for pre 2012 tenancies, only one "succession" is possible and after that it is not possible to pass on the tenancy) but it seems completely unfair that my aunt and cousin would just be evicted from a home they have lived in for 30/40 years. I know that is probably a very naive way of looking at it! Where could they look for help in a discrete way, as I do not think asking my uncle for information would be an option. 

AdrianC

So the tenancy history...

1960s or before - Grandma sole
1990ish - Grandma/Uncle joint
Mid 1990s - Uncle sole. Aunt never added.

(When you look at that timeline, and the ongoing attitude of Uncle, I'd be questioning whether Grandma was effectively manipulated out of the tenancy.)

One thing you don't mention is whether Aunt and Cousin can afford to move out of social housing.
The cousin is now 30, I presume the aunt is still of working age?

GeorgianaCavendish

That is correct timeline for the tenancy history, and I would agree with you about my Grandma being manipulated out of the tenancy based on what I've pieced together from family history around that time (I was at school when it was all happening and my mum had been estranged from that side of the family for a long time before) and my uncle's attitude in general. I've only been back in contact with them for a few years but he's so toxic.

I don't think they can afford to move out of social housing. My aunt is 66, still working and intending to carry on working for as long as she can. She does have a pension, but I don't believe she has much in the way of savings as burden of running the household (except rent) has been solely on her - and for years she was only "allowed" to work part time.  My cousin is currently unemployed and job hunting, he used to work in retail but was let go in August (and before that was furloughed). They live in NW London and I think would struggle to rent a 2 bedroom place on their current income in the private sector. 

RAS

Hi

I'd recommend your go to Martin's financial abuse blog on here and get aunt to contact one of the charities to which he links, as soon as possible. They may be able to help her before uncle dies and possibly liaise with the housing authority. Remind her that lockdown has exclusions for those in abusive relationships. 

Aunt also needs to understand the rules round what happens if uncle dies. If he's not got a will, she inherits some or all of his estate, but if he's done anything to exclude her, she needs to make a claim within 6 months.

Is it possible that uncle has a pension by the way? If so, it may be possible to read up on their rules for survivor's pensions.

On a practical point if he's not present, it may be possible to speak to her to support her, allow her safe access to the internet. Or just to help put money on the phone of either your aunt and cousin.

And remind both that if they are used to creeping round him, they need to maintain the same behaviour as a safety measure.

If they can't stay locally longer term, it might be better to consider relocation somewhere they can both get jobs and housing is cheaper.

GeorgianaCavendish

Thank you, those are great resources and I will pass the information on to them.